


Shards

by AnimeAddict666



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Depression, Dirty Talk, Explicit Language, F/M, Fantasizing, Loneliness, M/M, Masturbation, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, Set after Season 2, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27036922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimeAddict666/pseuds/AnimeAddict666
Summary: It started off innocent enough. A flash of blue eyes in the mirror. Some accidental voyeurism.Alucard would just check up on them, make sure they were still okay.Now, he cannot look away.
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades, Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades
Comments: 35
Kudos: 142





	1. Loneliness and Voyeurism

Alucard went to sleep and woke five days later. Just a short nap for a vampire, really. He had needed time to recuperate from the wounds his father inflicted.

He woke slowly, climbing out of a dream. He had been sitting at the desk in his childhood bedroom. Painting. He had been dipping brushes in different colors, but everything on the canvas was red. He faintly recalled his mother’s hair, the scent of her perfume.

He peeled open gummy eyes, casting about blearily in the twilight of his bedroom. Still night then. His mouth felt woolen and his throat was hoarse when he swallowed, as if he had screamed and screamed and screamed. Maybe he had.

Finally, he sat up. He looked to the hearth and a fire sprang to life. He cringed and raised a hand in front of his eyes, and it guttered and went out. The castle was already responding to his will, already changing allegiances. Alucard closed his eyes briefly and focused, and he found he could sense the castle like a whisper in the back of his mind or a distant second heartbeat. He shuddered. That would take some getting used to.

He stood, feeling his shirt stick to him unpleasantly with dried sweat. He hadn’t bothered to change before falling into a regenerative sleep. His felt filthy and he swore he could still smell blood. He hastily stripped everything off with a grunt of disgust and the fire immediately sprang back to life to warm him. Now that he was over the initial surprise, the warmth was welcome.

“Handy that,” he mumbled. He went to the wardrobe to grab a robe and head down to the baths.

He paused.

He was alone. Absolutely alone. Not another living, or unliving, thing for miles.

“What the hell.”

Alucard walked to the baths stark naked. It gave him a little thrill.

<\----------------------------------------->

A week passed.

Alucard spent most of his time wandering aimlessly through the castle and taking stock of all the damage. It made his head hurt just thinking about how long the repairs would take. Well, he had nothing but time.

He had been touched when Belmont left his family home in his care. He had seen the gift for what it was, an attempt to give his miserable, sad existence some higher purpose. But it had not felt like pity. On the contrary, it had been uncharacteristically kind and earnest. He wanted to try.

Alucard cleaned up the worst of the gore and rubble from the stairs. Trevor and Sypha had stuck around long enough to help clear out the carnage from their battle. Sypha had torched most of the bodies, but there were still a few corpses they’d missed in the maze of the castle’s halls and rooms. They reeked, and he regretted sleeping as long as he had.

Evidence of magical fire was everywhere – scorch marks up the walls, burnt carpets, and tapestries falling to ash. He smirked as he recalled Sypha’s creative savagery, the vampire she had split perfectly down the middle like a ripe peach.

His smile faltered.

She was gone. They were gone. He was alone once more.

It had been a temporary allegiance after all, born of desperation. Comrades at arms. They had called him friend, but he wondered if he would ever see them again.

Alucard passed his father’s study. His own blood was still caked on the grate near the fireplace where Dracula had swatted him like a fly. He gazed at the shards of the transmission mirror and saw his own reflection staring back in jagged pieces.

A flash of blue gazed back at him.

He jerked, startled, and looked again, but the eye was gone. It had looked just like… He shook his head.

Alucard found he could not enter the room again, where he had sobbed for hours amongst his family ghosts.

He left it be.

<\----------------------------------------->

Another week passed.

He still heard laughter from time to time. His mother’s. His own as a child. Once, the deep baritone chuckle of his father. He wanted to scream or burst into tears or break something.

Still, he made some progress on the main entryway, cleaning and preparing all the holes for further repairs. Unfortunately, the marble flagstones needed to fix the floors were not found in Wallachia and he could no longer travel to obtain it. It was a problem Alucard did not yet know how to solve.

His blood hunger began to stir with a slow and steady throb at the root of his teeth. Alucard had not felt the sensation since going to sleep under Gresit. He must have suffered more internal bleeding than he realized. No wonder he was healing slowing. He was starving.

He found his father’s private stores hidden beneath the kitchen cellar. Untouched. The door had not been opened since shortly after Dracula met his mother and began to feed from her exclusively. He swallowed around the tightness in his throat, then steeled himself and plucked a cold cannister at random from the wire rack on the wall. Alucard opened it, poured the chilled blood into a glass and raised it to his lips.

He stopped. It reeked of human fear. He put the glass down.

Perhaps he could prepare a meal instead. When had he last eaten solid food?

Abandoning the storeroom and ignoring the ache in his jaw, he found the kitchen almost exactly as his mother had left it. Many of the provisions were expired, save some grains and salted meat, a few preserves and spices.

He prepared a pot of savory oats using some dried herbs, salted meat and lard. The familiar routine and the comfort of their old family kitchen kept the ghosts at bay. He smiled for the first time in days. The simple and hearty fare filled his belly and staved off the worst of his other hunger, but that would not last forever.

Tonight, he would hunt. Animal blood would suffice.

<\----------------------------------------->

Another week. Perhaps more?

He could no longer stomach the castle. He made minor repairs and cleaned, but it never made a dent. The corridors and stairs and rooms felt endless in a way they never had when he was a child. Had this been what his father felt before Lisa came banging on his door? This hollow and numbing quiet. The endless expanse of time and darkness.

Alucard spent more and more time in the Belmont Hold, installing lights, removing broken timber, and creating a lift to access the area until he could replace the stairway. He was more motivated to restore someone else’s legacy than his own. His own legacy had too many sharp edges.

He explored the lands around the estate, the rivers and fields. Some mornings, he would fish or gather food, then perch in that old, gnarled tree just outside the old Belmont estate. Trevor’s tree. He wondered what Trevor must have looked like as a child. The games he had played. Had he grown up with siblings? Alucard could not imagine what difficulty he must have faced after the purge, a child suddenly orphaned and homeless. No wonder he had so few social graces.

_“Eat shit and die.”_

“Well, you smell like shit,” he muttered and then laughed. “I do hope Sypha has introduced you to the miracle of soap and water, for her own sake.”

It was several seconds later that he realized he was talking to Belmont as if he was right here, not halfway across Wallachia. He closed his eyes and flushed with shame. How pathetic was he? Talking to an imaginary friend.

He stayed in the tree until it was almost dark, soft words floating down to the earth as the shadows turned lurid and purple as bruises.

<\----------------------------------------->

Two weeks later, Alucard found a basket full of old sewing supplies in a storeroom. He took it to the kitchen to repair an old shirt and poured everything onto the kitchen table. Out rolled a pile of buttons the color of an azure sky. He felt a visceral ache in his chest at the sight of them.

The next thing he knew, he had two doll replicas of Sypha and Trevor with blue button eyes. His hands seemed to have made them of their own accord.

He took to carrying the dolls around with him or sitting them on shelves where he worked. They held back the ghosts he saw at every turn, the oppressive and creeping loneliness that consumed his every waking moment.

He spoke to them, sometimes in earnest, sometimes joking, oftentimes making fun of Trevor. Mostly, though, he simply talked about what he was doing, dictating his life out loud.

He wasn’t sure if it kept the madness at bay or if he was already mad.

<\----------------------------------------->

Alucard was losing track of time. He had no idea how many days it had been since they had left, and he realized this was the rest of his life. That he would live on and on through never-ending days, with no need to count them.

It was the dead of night, yet he could not sleep. He was in his father’s study, finally having worked up the nerve to enter again. Alucard lit a candle and his gilded eyes skimmed the bookshelves, looking for journals or accounts of the castle’s inner workings.

Though he felt the castle like a second sense now, he could not bend it to his will. He could light or extinguish hearth fires. At times, a doorway would appear where one had not been before, often leading to some hidden shortcut, as if the castle anticipated his needs. The castle seemed to react to his subconscious desires, but when he tried to actively command it to do something, the hulking structure remained indifferent.

The castle was constructed with both magic and science, and it had been no small part of Dracula’s power. If he was to reside here for all eternity, he should learn to control the damn thing.

“You know, Sypha, if you hadn’t broken the engine…” he muttered aloud.

_“I did not break it. The castle broke itself. You are rude. I am an amazing magician and I will freeze your balls off if it pleases me.”_

He smiled. Talking for the dolls was new, but he found he didn’t care. It comforted him.

“You are still a very, very rude man, Trevor Belmont.”

Alucard jerked and fumbled with the book he had just pulled from the shelf. He was truly losing his mind. He had just heard the doll talk for herself, clear as day.

“You like me when I’m rude,” Trevor responded, in a gravelly tone of voice Alucard had never heard before.

Alucard heard a squeal that sounded exactly like Sypha when she was too excited. Then a breathless sort of laughter.

His eyes widened and he cast his gaze about the room. A flash of movement caught his eye, near his feet of all places. He realized it was a large piece of the transmission mirror.

Alucard knelt, his face scant inches from the silvery surface, barely breathing.

He saw more movement, but it was dark as pitch. Even with his enhanced senses it was difficult to make out much detail, other than a lump of something black moving against what looked like dark grey cloth. He thought they were in the wagon.

“Admit it,” Trever growled softly. “Admit you like it.” Something in his voice sent a shot of electricity coursing straight up Alucard’s spine to the crown of his head.

A low, quiet moan. Alucard’s mouth went dry.

Then the blanket fell away, and he could suddenly see both of them, their pale flesh joined together. Sypha’s legs hitched around Trevor’s hips, her hands gripping his broad shoulders. The curve of his muscled and narrow hips barely covered by the clinging blanket.

Alucard stood abruptly. The tips of his ears felt hot. He took several shaky steps backwards and felt the backs of his knees hit the edge of a cushioned chair. He sank down into it and averted his eyes.

But he could still hear them.

“You like it. “

A slap of flesh against flesh, then a sharp gasp.

Alucard knew he should leave. This wasn’t right. He shouldn’t stay here. He was invading their privacy.

“You like this coarse, crude Belmont.”

Sypha’s next moan was broken and desperate.

Alucard felt his cock stir and swell. He was hot all over, his breath suddenly coming out in pants. He brought a shaky hand to his mouth.

“You like it rough.”

Another sound of their flesh connecting, wet and sharp.

Alucard reached down to the bulge in his trousers, pressing the heal of his hand down hard and hissing at the friction. He knew this was wrong, but he could not stop listening. He hadn’t touched himself in ages. He suddenly wanted release.

“You like it when my cock is deep inside you.”

“Ru-ude,” Sypha gasped out.

Alucard undid the laces of his trousers. His cock sprang forth and he grasped himself with trembling fingers.

“Oh?” Trevor’s voice was teasing. “You want me to stop?”

“Get back here, you annoying oaf,” there was laughter and affection in her voice.

Alucard closed his eyes and imagined what Sypha would look like. Her fiery hair in disarray, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright and blown wide with desire. Her smile playful and alluring. Her breasts white mounds with dusky nipples. How it would feel to sink into her wet, warm sex.

The sound of their coupling grew suddenly loud and rhythmic.

He began to pull himself off in time with them. His other hand gripped the armrest of the chair, his hips twitching. He felt hyper-sensitive. He could hear their labored breath like it was right in his ear. Alucard could feel the texture of the velvet chair rubbing against his back and ass as he twisted with pleasure. His mouth hung open, fangs glinting in the candlelight.

“Faster, Trevor,” Sypha said, her voice somehow commanding even breathless with desire.

Alucard bit his bottom lip, his fangs almost breaking skin, he rolled his hips up to meet his hand, faster and faster. He imagined Trevor’s lithe body undulating against Sypha, thinking of the graceful way he moved in battle.

Trevor was grunting softly on each thrust, almost as if he was in pain. “Fuck, oh gods,” he wheezed. He did not sound in control now. “Sypha, tell me you’re close.”

“Yes, like that, Trevor. Don’t stop.”

Alucard had never been with a man, though that type of relationship was not taboo among vampires. He was simply young. But he suddenly imagined Belmont thrusting hard and fast, how it would feel to have his weight hot and heavy on his back, pinning him down.

Alucard gripped the head of his cock and moaned out loud, suddenly close to the edge.

It took him a moment to realize it was dead silent in the study. The sounds of Trevor and Sypha had ceased.

“What was that?” Sypha whispered.

“You heard it too?”

Alucard froze and jerked his hand away from his swiftly softening prick. They had heard him. Of course. The mirror went both ways depending on its master’s will.

Had he _wanted_ them to hear him?

He rushed from the study and to his room, not looking back. He slammed the door as if he could shut away what he had just witnessed. What he had just done. Alucard leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor on shaking knees, and then realized he’d run through the castle with his prick hanging out of his pants.

He laughed then, a broken, crazed sort of laugh.

They were together. For how long? That could not have been their first time. They had been too comfortable, too familiar.

He closed his eyes. Alucard could still hear the sound of them, could still picture the way they had looked together, joined so closely. Yes, he was envious, but they had also been beautiful. He thought of the curve of Sypha’s thigh, the angle of Trevor’s jaw, the rhythmic sound of their flesh coming together again and again.

His cock stirred at the memory.

Despite his better judgement, he took himself in hand and began to stroke until he was fully hard again.

Alucard rubbed a thumb over the head of his cock and smoothed the bead of moisture down his length, breathing slow and even and relishing the images his mind conjured. He pictured Sypha spread beneath him, her ankles on his shoulders, and imagined himself fucking her hard and fast. In his fantasy, she was moaning for him.

_“Faster, Alucard.”_

He quickened his pace, his hand jerking in short, quick motions, focusing on the sensitive head of his cock. He panted and rutted up into the empty air and thought of what Sypha would feel like when he was buried deep inside her.

_“Admit it. You like it.”_

He imagined Trevor wrapping his strong arms around his waist. Imagined it was Trevor’s hands on his cock. He could almost feel his breath on his ear, the weight of him draped against his back.

He bit his lip and tasted blood, and then suddenly Alucard was coming, shouting out his release in the empty, quiet room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't written fanfiction for a long time, but I'm obsessed with Castlevania and got bit by the old writing bug. I have a general outline/plot in mind. I'll update tags as needed, but let me know if I screwed that up I suppose. Ha.


	2. Spies and Interlopers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alucard struggles to piece together the transmission mirror. Sumi and Taka make an appearance. Sypha bends Trevor to her will, as is the proper way of the world.

Alucard was back in the study by daybreak, crouched on the floor and staring at the broken glass littering the carpet. He considered the wisdom of trying to contact his erstwhile companions. What if he just checked up on them? Made sure they were okay?

“Fool,” he said aloud. “They were more than okay last night.”

Trevor and Sypha had found comfort in each other’s arms. What need had they for a vampire half breed? 

Self-consciously, he glanced up at the dolls still sitting on a bookshelf nearby. He couldn’t imagine speaking to them as he had before, not when he had glimpsed the real thing via the mirror. His behavior over the course of the last few weeks made him flush with embarrassment.

“You need to get out more,” he muttered.

Making a decision, he attempted to meditate and will the mirror to assemble, concentrating on Trevor’s eyes as an anchor, since he was now fairly certain he had seen his eye in the mirror before. Nothing happened. No movement or sound.

He picked up several jagged pieces. There were no markings or runes to be seen. He experimented by placing a fat drop of his own blood on the surface and concentrated again on the blue of Trevor’s irises, the spark of mirth they often held

“Show me Trevor Belmont.”

The mirror remained a shattered pile of glass and just as useful.

He spent several hours in the study, searching the books and shelves for clues. By the time he was done, it looked like a hurricane had invaded the small room, but he was no closer to an answer. He knew this mirror was unique, that it could transmit matter as well as images, and that the mirror had been bound to his father. How, he had no clue.

Alucard groaned and yanked at his hair in frustration. Was nothing in this infernal castle easy?

The distance mirror in the Hold had been another matter entirely, with runes written in a familiar language and easy to repair.

Wait.

The Hold.

The distance mirror.

Of course, he would not be able to travel through it or speak with them directly, but he could still see where they were and how they were doing. A perfectly suitable solution. He would worry about the transmission mirror later.

He ignored any misgivings he had that this felt a lot like spying.

Alucard strode to the entry hall, the enormous doors opening gradually as he approached. On impulse, he transformed into the wolf and dashed across the lawn to the Belmont ruins, feeling a wild glee that he would see them again soon.

That was when he smelled them. Two humans, a male and a female, in the woods to the south of the ruins. He lifted his head and pricked his ears in their direction. Now that he was focused on them, he heard a pair of heartbeats. He would never have detected them had he not been in the form of the wolf.

He growled in frustration. Just what he needed right now. He paused for a moment, torn between his urge to seek out his friends and his need to investigate these two intruders on his land.

Reluctantly, Alucard turned away from the ruins. Then he shot through the woods like a pale ghost, disappearing into the underbrush.

**< \----------------------------------------->**

Sumi crouched near a bilberry bush, plucking the underripe fruit from the branches. The rep-purple berries would be sour, but edible, and they could not afford to be picky. Game animals had returned as the night horde receded, so hunting had improved, but they had both missed plenty of meals over the winter.

Taka still looked too thin.

She stood, caging the berries gently in her fingers, and glanced up at the looming shadow of Dracula’s castle.

They had come so far, endured so much, yet the castle and all its riches remained unreachable, guarded by the man who had slain his own father to take it. They had not attempted to get any closer yet, but she had seen the creature once at a distance, out in broad daylight near the stream. Though Sumi had heard rumors of the dhampir, she had not truly believed it until spying him walking under the baleful eye of the sun. They had heard his name whispered by vampires and humans alike. The anti-Dracula. The Alucard.

She returned to camp, and found Taka sprawled under the shade of a nearby tree, an arm thrown over his eyes.

“Get up, lazy,” she groused, and kicked his thigh gently.

“I hate morning hunts,” Taka mumbled. “Besides, I brought back meat. I have earned a nap, I think.”

Sumi glanced to the skinned hare hanging and ready to be cooked near the fire. “That is not so much meat, but I suppose you aren’t completely useless.”

Taka huffed, and a small grin played across his lips. “Will you cook?”

Sumi narrowed her eyes. “You will clean then.”

“Yes yes,” Taka said, waving his hand back and forth as if shooing a fly. “Just let me rest.”

Sumi rolled her eyes and strode to the fire. She added her berries to a small pile of gathered food – wild onions, an herb that reminded her of mitsuba, and a root vegetable the locals called carrots. The carrots were sad little things this early in the season, but this would be enough for a stew. She set to work rekindling their fire, then filled their small pot with water and placed it in the coals to heat.

She finished adding the meat and onions, and was reaching for the carrots, when she felt a crawling sensation run up her spine. Sumi spun on the balls of her feet, her hand flying to the dagger at her waist. Taka was already standing, an arrow nocked and ready, watching the far side of the clearing with the attention of a hawk. He had sensed it too. 

Someone, or something, was watching them from the woods.

“You’ll not want to eat those.”

Sumi spun around again. It was the dhampir. The Alucard.

Up close, Sumi realized no one would have mistaken him for a human. He was otherworldly, both in appearance and how he carried himself. He seemed to float over the ground toward her.

An arrow whistled past her right shoulder. It should have struck true, but instead the man vanished in a strange blur, his eyes glowing a lurid red. The next thing she knew, her arm was wrenched behind her back, her elbow twisted painfully, and she dropped the knife with a cry. Alucard pulled her tight against his chest, his fingers like steel around the bones of her wrist.

“Don’t,” Alucard muttered as Taka turned to face them, another arrow already strung. 

“Please,” Sumi whispered. “We will not attack you. You scared us.”

His grip did not lessen on her arm. “You are on my land and you carry the weapons of hunters,” he spoke low into her ear. “If you hunt deer, fine, but I will not be hunted.”

“We are not hunting you,” Sumi protested.

She shot a sharp look at Taka, and he lowered his weapon.

“We know you are the Alucard and that you fought Dracula,” she continued. “We seek knowledge to kill another like him.”

Alucard huffed what sounded almost like a laugh and his grip relaxed on her wrist. “There are no others like him,” he said quietly, then continued. “Dracula is dead, as are all the generals of his court, slain by my hand, though I had help.”

Sumi turned to face him as she rubbed the feeling back into her hand. “Dead? All of them?”

“Yes, we were rather thorough,” Alucard replied.

The siblings shared an incredulous glance.

“Was there a vampire named Cho among the dead?” Taka asked urgently. “She had long, dark hair. She wore a kimono, a robe, very long.”

“Yes,” Alcuard cut his eyes to Taka. “A speaker magician froze her into ice and then broke her into little tiny pieces.”

Sumi could not help the grin that stretched wide across her face, and Taka mirrored her with one of his own. Suddenly, Taka swept her off her feet in a tight hug and they were laughing out loud. When Taka finally set her down, she turned to find Alucard walking away back into the woods.

“Wait,” Sumi started.

“As I said earlier, you’ll want to avoid eating that plant,” Alucard said without turning around. He gestured to the root vegetables she had gathered for the stew. “That is _Conium maculatum,_ commonly called hemlock, and it is quite poisonous.”

“See?” Taka said indignantly, waving his arms for dramatic effect. “This is what happens when we have to cook for ourselves.”

Sumi sighed. Those had looked just like the carrots she had seen the villagers harvest. This land was still new and strange to her at times. 

Alucard continued into the forest, but she tried once more.

“Please, we are alone,” she implored. “We need help.”

Alucard stopped and glanced back. “I have my own concerns to attend to,” he replied.

“We want to hunt vampires,” Taka blurted.

His golden eyes narrowed.

“No, not you!” Sumi corrected. “Others, like Cho.”

“I see,” he responded, unmoved.

“Please we want to free our people, but we have no resources and we are in a strange land,” Sumi said softly. 

“Yes, please help us… before she poisons me to death,” Taka joked. Sumi punched him in the shoulder.

For whatever reason, that seemed to do the trick. Alucard smiled and his shoulders relaxed.

“Come with me then,” he said quietly. “My mother would think poorly of me if I were to deny you aid when I am capable of giving it.”

**< \----------------------------------------->**

Trevor was picking a piece of dried meat out of his teeth with his dagger, minding his own business, when Sypha brought it up again.

“I still think we should go back,” Sypha said, her back to him as she washed out her chamber pot in the nearby stream.

“Huh?” he responded, pretending he didn’t know exactly what she was on about.

She huffed and then stood, carrying her towel and pot back to the wagon. “You know what I’m talking about, Trevor Belmont.”

He scowled. “What happened to adventures? Aren’t we supposed to be hunting monsters and saving the good folk of Wallachia?” he gestured expansively to the woods, where the early spring thaw was turning the snow into mud. “I seem to recall someone saying this would be good for me.”

Sypha stared at him for several long moments, disappointment writ large on her features. “Yes,” she finally said, “but we both know that Alucard-“

“Can take care of himself,” he finished. “I’m so glad we agree.”

Sypha narrowed her eyes in a way that made Trevor’s scrotum retreat somewhere into his stomach. “What is wrong with you?” she hissed, tossing the pot and rag back into the wagon. “He is our friend! I am certain I heard him the other night.”

“Please not this again,” Trevor groaned.

“I just think it would be a good idea, and I fail to see why you are being so difficult about this,” she huffed, crossing her arms.

“I don’t know what I heard.”

Sypha opened her mouth to argue, but he held up his hand and she actually obliged him for once.

“Look, it’s not just that,” he continued. “The castle is several weeks travel and the roads are treacherous with all the rain. The wagon will be very slow going. We would be lucky to make it back in a month’s time. It makes more sense to hunker down in a town for the spring and stick to day trips on foot.”

“Then we can hunker down in the castle!”

“Sypha…”

“Well, why not? The castle is very spacious and I am sure Alucard would appreciate a visit.”

Trevor cast his eyes to the sky.

“Also,” she stepped closer to him, her hand resting lightly on his elbow. “I would like to find my people.”

“How will going back to Dracula’s castle help us find your grandfather or your people?” he asked, genuinely puzzled.

Sypha smiled brilliantly, and he had the distinct impression he had walked into a trap. “The mirror!”

Trevor frowned. “The mirror? You mean the one in The Hold?”

“Of course! I will be able to find them with Alucard’s help, and then we will know which direction to travel to meet up with them. Otherwise, I am not sure how long it will be before we locate them,” Sypha added.

She looked up at him beseechingly. Trevor avoided looking at her bright, blue, guileless eyes for as long as he could, but finally sighed and looked down.

“You know you want to,” she singsonged up at him.

Trevor tried not to smile, but felt his lips betraying him. “No, I don’t.”

She poked his side and pressed up against him. Now, she was smiling too, and he knew he had already lost.

“Okay, fine, fine.”

“Yes!”

Trevor was already regretting this.

**< \----------------------------------------->**

Alucard fed the two young hunters and showed them to their rooms that evening. They had told him some of their story. A life of bondage and violence. Now that they had their freedom, they seemed determined to do something with it. He admired their drive, though he was worried that their inexperience would get them killed. They may have been somewhat skilled in combat, but they lacked a basic awareness about the world and its people, likely from spending most of their lives as slaves.

He wandered through the corridors and found himself back in the study. He stared down at the carpet littered with glass. His broken visage stared back.

Alucard sighed.

What was he doing? He had told Belmont that he would rebuild. That he would make something of this legacy. Instead, he was pining for something he could not have and wasting his time on a fantasy. He had a duty to this castle and to the Belmont Hold, and now he had two new charges to look after.

He would leave these distractions behind.

Alucard left the study and shut the door. He did not look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am trying to just post and not obsess over every word, or waste inordinate amounts of time researching medieval travel methods for historical accuracy. IT IS FANFICTION, YOU JUST NEED TO RELAX. So I say to myself.


	3. Ghosts and Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sypha and Trevor encounter an unusual demon. Sumi and Taka explore the castle of a thousand hallways, and Alucard confesses a weakness.

Sypha was inordinately pleased with herself. Trevor could tell because she wouldn’t stop grinning like an idiot. That, and she kept bestowing him with kisses whenever they were close enough to touch.

“You’re awfully smug,” he mumbled against her lips after their most recent kiss.

“I am not sure I know what you’re talking about,” she breathed, her fingers creeping up his neck into the hair at the base of his skull. She trailed her lips across his cheek and to his earlobe, and the feather-light touch woke gooseflesh down his neck.

Trevor still felt stunned at times by her casual affection, how intimate this felt even without sex. His whole adult life the only interactions he had with other people were fighting or fucking, encounters that offered only temporary release followed by still more self-loathing. Being with Sypha was like unwinding a massive spring that had been coiled around his chest. Every morning he woke up with her in his arms, he breathed more deeply.

He exhaled a shaky sighed. He could feel her smile against his skin as she raked her fingernails gently along his scalp.

“I feel like a dog you are training to do tricks and then rewarding for good behavior,” Trevor groused without any real heat.

Sypha laughed brightly and swatted his shoulder.

The kisses made the smugness more bearable at least.

The weather was unseasonably warm for early spring and the muddy slush had dried somewhat, making the road more manageable for the horses and wagon. Road was perhaps a generous term. This far from any major town or city it was little more than a path, sometimes barely wide enough for them to pass through the grasping branches of trees and shrubs. 

They’d made good time, better than he’d expected due to the change in weather. The birds were out in force this morning, twittering and warbling away in the trees, the sunlight falling warm and dappled through the growth of new leaves. Early wildflowers dotted the side of the road, purple and white splashes of color. You could almost forget that half the population had been massacred by a ravaging night horde over the past few months.

Then again.

Trevor pulled back on the reins, tilted his head ever so slightly. At his side, Sypha had gone uncannily still.

“Ah, well, I was getting a little bored,” he said with a casual shrug of his shoulder.

“Did you just call me boring?”

Trevor, wisely, didn’t answer that one. Instead, he said, “I count at least two.”

“Let’s not take too long,” she murmured back. “I want to make the next village by nightfall.”

“You hear that, boys!” Trevor called out. “Let’s not keep the lady waiting.”

A low hiss sounded to his right. Something rustled through the detritus of the forest floor and then it slithered into sight. The night creature resembled the bastard love child of a spider and a snake, with a torso that had too many pointy arms and the rest a massive, muscled tail. 

“Jesus, but you’re an ugly one,” Trevor said with a laugh, setting one hand on the Morning Star and bracing the other against the wagon frame.

He could hear the soft crunch and snap of twigs as the other night creature closed in from behind the wagon, not yet visible.

“The snake is mine,” Sypha said suddenly.

He glanced briefly to Sypha, and then wondered why the poor bastards didn’t run away as fast as they could. She looked positively terrifying. Her lips were twisted in a bloodthirsty grimace and her eyes glowed like the center of a flame.

“Ladies first,” he offered with a flourish of his wrist.

“See, Trevor, I knew you could be a gentleman.” She brought her hands up and flames wreathed her fingers.

Trevor turned away and leapt from the wagon to confront the creature trying to flank them, trusting her to take care of her opponent. He pulled his chain whip free and darted down the side of the wagon. He paused at the rear wheel.

Nothing moved. He frowned, scanning the forest. It had been right here. He was sure of it.

He barely jerked his head back in time as a massive tail with a wicked looking stinger sailed past his face. On instinct, he jerked his chain whip up, wrapped it around the appendage, and then twisted and pulled the bulbous stinger free. It ripped away with a splash of dark ichor.

The creature screeched. 

“Goddamn it, this was my good tunic,” he growled.

The beast was flat and low to the ground, and it crept out from underneath the wagon on insect-like legs. Its back and torso were covered in thick armor and the front arms ended in enormous claws that looked like they could snap a man in half.

It darted forward, the hung pinchers snapping closed where his legs had just been.

Trevor twisted his body in a graceful midair spin, wrapping the Morning Star under his arm and around his neck. His other hand caught the short length of chain and reversed the momentum just as he landed, the coiled tension snapping the deadly spiked head out in a wide arc. It caught the night creature in the torso right beneath its shoulder.

And did absolutely nothing.

“The fuck,” Trevor hissed, barely getting out of the way in time as it launched another snapping attack.

Okay, this was new. This was a demon from hell. Where you hit the damned thing was not supposed to matter when you had a consecrated chain whip, but all his attack had done was piss the thing off. That armor was some serious shit. 

That was when the third night creature attacked.

Trevor deflected the strike of a blade, popping the chain whip out to force the newcomer back and give himself some room to regroup. He pivoted and leapt over a sweeping kick, then rolled and came up beneath a massive oak tree. He put his back against the solid wood and eyed his two opponents.

The second one was mostly humanoid, wearing a cloak with a voluminous hood so that all he could see was glowing red eyes. It carried a short, curved blade that looked like a slice of the moon, unlike any weapon he had ever seen. Which was saying something, because he had a wee bit of a weapons fetish.

The armored one that looked like a bug made a high-pitched clicking sound. It advanced in a zigzag pattern, serrated pinchers extended.

The other one hung back, but Trevor didn’t take his eyes away from the hooded figure. He had a bad feeling about that one.

When the bug-like creature struck, this time Trevor was ready. He swung the chain whip in a rapid figure eight, forcing it to retreat, then he slid to the side and kicked the damn thing in the chin. It reared back just enough and he struck it with the whip in the same place, watching the creature crumple to one side, exposing its underbelly.

Trevor looped his whip around his forearm, unsheathed his short sword, and shoved it home between the joint in the armor right under the chin. The creature gave a final shriek and then twitched in death throes.

Something flashed silver in his peripheral vision, and he ripped his weapon free and turned to block the strike. He was a second too slow, and he felt white-hot agony split his side. He thrust his elbow into his opponent’s side and then took a stumbling step back.

They faced each other a few paces apart. This close, he could make out the shape of its facial features, obviously feminine, and the rictus of a wide and toothy smile.

“Don’t know what you’re smiling about,” Trevor joked. “You’re already dead.”

The creature didn’t even have time to react before Sypha put her fingers to the back of its head and blew the damn thing off in a blast of flames. Its body crumpled forward, the cloak billowing and the silver blade falling from lifeless fingers.

Sypha stepped around the corpse without a second glance. “You are injured,” she said sharply.

Trevor wiped his blade mostly clean on his breeches, before sheathing it. He brought his free hand to his side, feeling his own blood wet and sticky against his palm. “Just a scratch, I think.”

“Here, let me loo—“

Sypha never finished her sentence, because at that moment a creature made entirely of shadow materialized behind her. Before Trevor could shout a warning, a clawed hand had wrapped around her throat.

“That was rather vicious, my dear,” crooned the creature, her voice syrupy sweet.

Trevor realized with sickening clarity that this was not a night creature from Dracula’s horde. This was something else entirely. He should have known. Should have listened to his instincts. Shit.

“Tell me,” she said, and Trevor could see her gleaming red eyes fixed on him now. “Do you think I am beautiful?”

Trevor did not know what to say, but “no” seemed like a bad idea with Sypha’s breath wheezing in and out of her lungs. He grunted and gestured to the hood. “Hard to tell, don’t you think?”

The thing growled and tightened her grip, and blood ran down Sypha’s throat as razor-sharp claws bit into her flesh. Sypha looked at him with wide eyes.

Then it brought the other hand up and pushed the hood back.

Trevor sucked in a breath and barely restrained himself from stepping away.

The woman was pale as moonlight. Her dark hair shimmered, held up in an ornate bun with delicate hair combs. Her eyes were like dark pools now that they were exposed to the sunlight, the red glow ebbing. It was a human face, and might have been beautiful once, but her mouth was like a bloody gash, stretched from ear to ear with too many sharp teeth.

“So, hunter, what say you now?” her voice was a whisper full of dark promises. “Beautiful, am I not?”

Trevor could only nod, his hand twitching towards his whip, wondering if he would be fast enough to strike before Sypha’s throat was ripped out.

“Then, I will make your companion beautiful too.”

“No!” Trevor stepped forward, a hand outstretched helplessly as the beast brought a single claw to Sypha’s ear and began to slice her cheek open.

Sypha screamed and twisted, her hands coming up and a spear of ice impaling the creature’s arm. It shrieked and then ripped its hands away, the claws digging and tearing as they went.

Blood flowed down Sypha’s neck and chest. She fell to her knees, her hand coming up to cradle her mutilated face.

Trevor wasted no time and sliced the creature’s head clean off, hoping it would stay dead this time, then dropped his sword and knelt down next to Sypha. He ripped a piece of cloth from the edge of his shirt where it seemed the least filthy and pressed it to her throat, realizing with enormous relief that the blood was simply draining and not pumping out with the beat of her heart. He knew from experience that the latter was a death sentence.

She looked up at him and opened her mouth to speak, but her words came out garbled and she winced with pain.

“Shhh,” he said. “Don’t talk.” His voice cracked and he took a deep breath. “I don’t think they are too deep, but I need a closer look.”

Sypha nodded and pulled her hands away from her cheek.

Trevor held his shit together. Barely. He kept his face impassive as he inspected the wound. It was not good. The cut was shallow near her ear, but it got deeper as it traveled through the flesh of her cheek. He could see a muscle that was almost severed and her molars were visible. Her neck looked like shredded meat, but the cuts were mostly shallow, ragged tears. Nothing too deep, even though she was bleeding heavily.

“I think we need to clean the wounds,” Trevor said, keeping control of his voice with effort. “My shirt has seen better days and who knows where the hell that thing’s nails have been.”

Sypha’s face twitched as if she would smile, but then her eyes tightened and her forehead creased at the reflex.

Right, maybe he would refrain from joking for a minute.

Sypha motioned for him to back up. When he obliged, she brought her hands together and cupped them as if holding something in her palms. They filled with water, and she leaned forward and tipped her hands to her cheek. Red water sluiced off her face to feed the earth.

He could see her whole body tense at the pain, but she continued until she had washed off her cheek and most of her neck. She didn’t even whimper. Trevor shook his head, admiration singing through his veins. Sypha was more warrior and more woman than one man could handle at times. 

Trevor looked up at the sky between the branches and frowned, the sun was well on its way to setting, the blue deepening and the edge of the horizon touched with orange.

“We don’t want to be out here when the sun sets.”

Sypha turned to look at him, having finished cleaning up. She was dabbing at the edge of the wound with her sleeve as it continued to drain down the side of her face and neck. He didn’t know how they would stop the bleeding without better supplies.

“You’re bleeding too much and there are plenty of things out here that will smell the blood and come looking for a snack,” he continued. 

Trevor moved to the wagon and climbed in, grabbing the blanket and pulling out a knife. He cut several strips of cloth and then climbed back out. Wordlessly, he stepped up close and bent over, wrapping her neck and covering the jagged tears.

Moving to her cheek, he paused. He had no clue how he was going to cover this.

Wordlessly, Sypha held out her hands. She took the cloth and began to wrap from her opposite temple across her nose and down. Trevor got the hint, pulling the ends together at the back of her head and securing them with a knot as she worked. When they were done, Sypha looked like some kind of creature haunting a crypt. Trevor couldn’t help the startled laugh that exploded out of his chest.

Sypha narrowed her eyes.

Trevor waved his hand and shook his head in silent apology, suppressing the hysteric giggles. His eyes stung.

Fuck, he could have lost her.

Sypha’s face softened. She brought her bloodied hand up to caress his jaw. He leaned into the touch, closing his eyes. Here she was giving him comfort and she was the one who’d had her face ripped open.

“Let’s get back on the road,” he whispered in a voice raw with emotion. “We can still make Blakelowe by nightfall.”

Sypha nodded, her eyes like two deep pools in the darkening twilight, her skin paler than normal beneath the bandages.

They set off again, the forest unnervingly quiet. The wagon creaked over the bumps and ruts of the road. Sypha sat at his side, her back unbowed and her eyes straight ahead.

Trevor held the reins in numb fingers, not knowing what to say into the silence.

**< \----------------------------------------->**

This castle was the most amazing place Sumi had ever been in her life. Granted, she hadn’t seen many castles besides Cho’s fortress, but still.

The hallways were endless. Literally. She and Taka would walk for a time, only to realize they had been past that same room before, the passages looping back on themselves in ways that defied logic. There were stairs that ended at brick walls, and walls where doors appeared as soon as you turned your back.

But no matter how many nights they spent wondering the corridors and exploring the rooms, they could never find what they sought – the engine room, weapons, magic, secrets that would give them an edge over their enemies. Nothing that mattered. Only bedrooms and bathrooms and storage rooms. Once, they found a strange library with a dark, domed ceiling that looked like the night sky. Taka had stood gawking for minutes in silent awe.

“This is pointless,” Taka complained for the thousandth time. “I am tired of walking. We have been down this hallway, like, three times tonight.”

He wasn’t wrong, but Sumi clenched her jaw and pressed on. “There has to be a trick to it. We just need time. Perhaps a little of that magic Alucard promised us.”

“As if he won’t break his promise as soon as it suits him,” Taka groused. “He is wasting our time. Probably just feeding us until we are fat enough to make a meal out of.”

Sumi paused and turned back to him. “I think he will.”

“What, eat us?”

“No, I think he will keep his promise,” she said softly, her head bowed slightly, studying the geometric red and gold stitching of the hallway carpet. “He seems… different than the others.”

Taka blew out a breath and tossed his head. “No one can be trusted, especially a vampire.”

“He is a damphir,” Sumi corrected, uncomfortable defending him even though he had been so kind to them.

“I know what he is,” Taka snapped. Then he sighed. He held out his hand.

Sumi took it.

“I only trust you.”

“I only trust you,” Sumi echoed the mantra back.

The only person in the world who could be trusted was Taka. She knew this.

Still, something warm and golden had unfurled in her heart. Something like hope.

**< \----------------------------------------->**

Alucard worked in the kitchen, quietly washing and preparing ingredients. He had been out foraging this morning, and had been lucky enough to find fiddleheads and morels early this season. They would make an excellent side dish and he still had plenty of deer from his previous hunt. Lunch would be a treat for his new companions.

He smiled softly. Speak of the devils.

“Good morning,” he said without turning around.

“Is that breakfast?” Taka asked with a wide yawn.

“No, I’m afraid this will be lunch,” Alucard responded. “I left some fruit and bread on the counter.”

Taka suddenly seemed more energetic and wandered over to grab a dish.

“Thank you, Alucard,” Sumi said before helping herself.

“Sumi got me up early again because she is evil,” Taka mumbled around a mouthful of bread.

“Remember, Alucard promised to show us magic!”

Taka brightened at that as he practically fell into his seat, the plate clattering against the tabletop.

Alucard opened his mouth to reprimand Taka for his carelessness, then thought better of it and clicked his teeth shut. Instead, he sat down and placed his hands before him on the table. “I thought I might show you the armory today instead, perhaps test out some different weapons that would suit your fighting styles,” he said quietly. 

The two siblings visibly deflated.

“I thought we would learn some magic today?” Sumi queried, still polite.

Taka would not look up from the tabletop, and his hands were clenched in fists at either side of his plate.

Alucard closed his eyes briefly, steeling himself. He had hoped the armory would suffice, but it seemed that he would have to come clean if they were to make any headway today. “I… cannot do magic.”

Taka looked up sharply. “What do you mean? You did magic when we first met you,” his tone was accusing.

“Yes, but that magic is a gift of my birthright and cannot be replicated by humans. At least, not to my knowledge,” he amended.

Sumi glanced at Taka, then back to him, her eyes positively icy. “Then why offer to teach us magic? Why do that?”

Alucard sighed. “I was going to teach you what I knew of human magic, which requires a certain amount of, well, energy.”

Two dark eyes looked at him with equal parts curiosity and distrust. By the gods, they had lived a hard life. He would have to broach this topic delicately.

“Energy that I am currently lacking.”

Sumi was the first to comprehend what he was saying. He watched the realization steal across her face like a storm cloud. Moments later, she leapt to her feet, grabbing a table knife in one hand and Taka’s arm in the other. She dragged her brother to the door, never facing away from him.

Alucard sat still and calm at the kitchen table.

Well, that could have gone better, he supposed.

“Was this your plan all along then?” she hissed. “For us to give you blood before you give us knowledge!”

Taka’s eyes widened as he finally realized what Alucard meant by energy.

“We will not be slaves again. No matter what you promise to teach us!”

Alucard raised an eyebrow at the diminutive knife pointed at his chest. “Sumi, what exactly are you planning to do with that?”

She glanced down briefly at her weapon, before looking up with a glare. Taka was slowly sliding into a fighting stance.

Alucard could hear their heartbeats rising, smell the fear wafting off their skin. He needed to deescalate the situation.

“I am not asking you to share your blood with me,” he said calmly, raising his hands in what he hoped was a disarming fashion. “I sustain myself mostly with animal blood.”

“Mostly?” Taka retorted, every muscle in his torso corded and ready to fight.

Alucard simple stared at him, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. “Had I wanted to feed from you, you would have no way to stop me as you are now.”

He let that sink in. Sumi at least appeared to be considering him.

“Before you two arrived, I… was not eating regularly,” he admitted. “I was reviewing magic tomes last night and realized that I did not have adequate energy to perform traditional spell work. I sustained some serious injuries during our battle with Dracula, and perhaps I have not replenished my reserves yet.”

Sumi finally lowered her knife, though Taka still looked like he would rather fight. “I do not understand, why would you go hungry?” she began. “Surely, someone of your skill can hunt enough game.”

Alucard closed his eyes again. His felt a great weight pressing on his chest. He could hear the ghost of his mother again, laughing, always laughing.

Eventually, he opened his eyes and then surprised himself with his own honesty.

“Perhaps I have not had reason to care for myself until now.”

Taka and Sumi exchanged a long look, and a silent communication seemed to pass between them. Sumi sat back down first, followed shortly by Taka, though they both seemed on edge.

“I apologize for my accusation,” she said formally.

She looked to Taka. When he did nothing, she kicked him under the table. He winced, shot her a glare, and then jerked his head in agreement. Sumi rolled her eyes. 

Alucard smiled. They were still children, really. It was not too late for them. Perhaps it was not too late for him either.

“I am sorry to spoil breakfast,” he said softly. “Why don’t I show you the armory first, then I can go hunt? Afterwards, perhaps we will still have time for a little magic.”

Both siblings smiled back at that, their dark eyes reflecting the morning sunlight slanting through the windows.

His chest still ached for eyes the color of a summer sky. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder if anyone knows the name of the beast that wounded Sypha, or the name of its companion. Hmmm...maybe don't spoil the surprise for everyone if you do! Ha.


	4. Valor and Folly

Blakelowe was barely a town, more like a shit stain on the back of a hillside. Most of the homes had burned down at one point, but people had started to rebuild. Everything was the color of mud and ash. As they approached, Trevor could see signs of recent habitation, fields plowed and smoke rising from chimneys. But all the shutters were closed tight. No one called out a greeting.

Trevor reined in the horses just outside the meager lamplight of an inn near the town’s square. At least, he thought it was an inn. There was a broken sign hanging above a lantern by the door.

“The hell is that?” he said out loud, squinting at the half that remained. “A rooster? No, a wolf? Fuck if I know.”

Next to him, Sypha snorted indelicately.

“I’ll go inside and see if they have a room, maybe there is someone in town who can see to your…” he trailed off, gesturing to her bandages.

Sypha motioned for him to pay attention, then she held one hand in front of her like a bowl and made a fist with her other. She placed her fist a few inches above her other hand and made a stirring motion.

“You want… soup?”

Sypha looked at him with exasperation and threw up her hands to the heavens, as if beseeching any gods that remained to smite him on the spot. Then she made a swirling motion with her hand, conjuring a small bowl of ice in one palm.

“Shit, Sypha!” Trevor hissed. He glanced around nervously. “We just got here. We don’t know how these people feel about magic. You shouldn’t be…”

She gestured again, and a thick, tapered stick of ice appeared in her other hand.

Trevor groaned and smacked his forehead. She was ignoring him. Of course, she was. When did she ever listen to him?

She ignored his histrionics and put the stick inside the bowl and ground them together.

“A mortar and pestle?”

Sypha nodded ecstatically, her magic ice disappearing on a whim. She winced as her motions tugged at her wounds.

“Okay, you want an herbalist. Got it.” He handed the reins to her and jumped down from the wagon. “I’ll be right back.”

Trevor strode to the door and then knocked three times sharply on the frame. Shortly after, he heard someone moving inside and then candlelight crept along the edges of the closed shutters.

“Who goes there after dark?” a muffled voice asked from the other side of the door. “You have a death wish?”

“Just two travelers,” Trevor said in what he hoped was his most disarming voice. “If there’s a room available, we’ve some coin to spend.”

The door was unlatched and then it opened a few inches. A middle-aged man with watery eyes and a potbelly glared out at him. He held an axe casually by his side and looked like he might know how to use it. “Aye, one room, in the loft,” the man said, glancing behind Trevor.

“That will do,” Trevor said with relief. He wanted Sypha to have a real bed tonight. She needed the rest. He reached for his coin pouch. “How much?”

“Not so fast,” the man interrupted.

Trevor glanced up with a grimace. “What’s the problem?”

“Where’s your companion?”

Trevor glanced back at the wagon still hidden in shadow. “She’s with the horses.”

“She?” the man narrowed his eyes, looking pointedly at Trevor’s left hand. “Married, are you?”

“No,” Trevor almost growled. “Not sure why that matters?”

“To God-fearing folks, it does,” the man said, his hand tightening on the ax handle. “I’ll not traffic in sin under my roof.”

Trevor bit back the retort on the tip of his tongue. “Look, we’re not looking for trouble. We were attacked and she was hurt. I just want her to have a place to rest tonight.”

The man seemed to soften at that. He looked at Trevor for a long time, then nodded. “Alright, bring her around.”

“Thank you.”

“But you’ll sleep in the stables,” the man said suddenly, gesturing to a small structure to the side of the inn.

Trevor grit his teeth. “Of course,” he agreed.

The man jerked his head back towards the dark interior of the inn. “I’ll get the missus to help your _friend_ get settled. Your free to use the stables for the beasts as well, and we’ve feed to spare as long as you’ve coin to pay for it.”

Trevor nodded stiffly, not trusting himself to speak.

The man shut the door.

Trevor turned and trudged back to the wagon, then cursed as he stepped in a pile of dog shit. “This day can go to hell,” he muttered. He scraped his boot along the ground, wrinkling his nose. Fuck, but dog shit smelled _the worst._

His skin prickled and he jerked his head up. Sypha was a pale outline sitting on the wagon bench, but he could feel her magic in the air, thick and electric.

Trevor knew he was being paranoid, but he had good reason to be. Most people wanted to kill him because he was a Belmont. The rest of the world was full of creatures who wanted to eat him because he was made of tasty meat. He was perfectly justified in a little paranoia. Somehow, he knew that Sypha wasn’t making another ice bowl.

Trevor’s drew his short sword and scanned the area, but there was nothing threatening in the town square or near the old well at its center. Everything was absolutely quiet and still, the wind gently stirring his hair. He crept forward until he was close enough to see Sypha in the dim light. Her body was tense, her hands and fingers twined in a conjuring gesture. Her eyes were narrowed with fierce concentration.

He followed her gaze across a small clearing that led back to the road.

Ice ran down his back. He sucked in a ragged breath.

A hooded figure stood at the edge of the clearing, barely visible but for the glint of moonlight on a curved blade and the red glow of two eyes.

He gripped the handle of his short sword hard enough to make the tendons in his hand creak.

She had followed them. They had struck her down twice, but here she was again. Not a demon then. A specter or a wraith, or something equally nasty. Impossible to kill and very difficult to banish, unless you knew the spirit and its particular ritual. His family had hunted spirits too, but he had not been fully educated in the lore before…

Well, before.

He had no clue what this thing was or how to get rid of it, but he’d be damned if he let it touch Sypha again.

Trevor braced himself, taking a step forward as if to approach the ghost, when she vanished like nothing more than a wisp of smoke. He blinked, glancing around, then turning to look behind them. There was no sign of her.

He turned back to Sypha. “Well,” he said, “I don’t think she can enter the square, for whatever reason.”

Sypha brought her hands down, the magic draining out of the air. Where before her eyes had been sharp and focused, now she just looked worn and exhausted.

“Come on,” Trevor said. “I’ve got a room for you in the loft. Though it seems the beasts and I are only fit for the stables.” He said it jokingly, but he could hear the brittleness in his own voice.

Sypha shook her head.

Trevor frowned. “What?”

She shook her head again and gestured back to the road, then she grabbed the horses’ reins.

“Please fucking tell me I am misunderstanding you again, and you’re not trying to take us back on the godforsaken road tonight?”

Sypha gestured vehemently to where the ghost had stood, then to the inn, as if that explained everything. Then she grabbed the reins again and jerked her head to the seat next to her.

“No way, damn it,” Trevor hissed, finally catching on. Now he was angry. “We are not traveling on the road tonight to protect some piss-headed villagers from a ghost who probably can’t enter the town anyway. That is shitfucking insane.”

Sypha was glaring down at him with a serious and earnest expression that somehow made him feel like a child again. For a speaker unable to speak, Sypha had no problem communicating her displeasure.

“Look, that thing is attached to you somehow, not sure why, but I don’t think she’ll stop following us. We have to stop and rest, or we won’t be any good in a fight.”

Sypha blinked once slowly and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, _‘You think I had not considered this?’_

He knew she had already considered the outcome, the way this could end, and that she had made her decision anyway. All the fight drained out of him, replaced with a horrible resignation. “That thing is a ghost. I don’t know who she is or how to banish her,” he continued.

Sypha did not move.

“I don’t know how long I can protect you if we go back on the road,” Trevor urged, hating how this felt like begging.

Sypha dropped the reins and for a moment he felt a vast relief, but then she gestured emphatically to him and shook her head. Then she held up both hands, conjuring fire in one and ice in the other. Her eyes narrowed to slits of blue flame. The side of her face that was visible pulled back in a grin full of teeth, though he knew it must have pained her.

“Yeah, I know you don’t need protection,” he said with a quiet sigh. “But you do need rest and food and medicine.”

Sypha released her magic, but there was steel in her eyes.

“Don’t make me do this,” he said quietly.

She patted the seat next to her again.

Trevor closed his eyes briefly, before opening them and holding her gaze with all the earnestness he could muster. “Sypha, please,” he whispered.

Her eyes softened and her shoulders slumped slightly, but she did not drop the reins.

In the end, he knew she would not stay, not when it could endanger the townsfolk, and he knew he would go with her. He simply stood in the twilight for a long time contemplating what his life had been like before Sypha and what it was now.

And what it may become again without her.

<\----------------------------------------->

Sumi woke in a cold sweat, thrashing her way out of sheets tangled tight around her legs. She sat up, her chest heaving, hair hanging lank in front of her eyes. She brought a hand up to her neck, to the tight, scarred tissue at the juncture above her collarbone.

All the talk of blood at dinnertime had woken unpleasant memories. She vaguely recalled her dream. It had been filled with grasping, clawed hands and clammy skin. Vampires were always cold, their skin soft and pliant like a human, but with icy flesh underneath like a fish or a corpse.

Sumi shuddered.

Alucard was not cold. When they touched during sparring or when his hand guided her to adjust her stance, his fingers were warm like any man’s.

She glanced over to Taka, who was sprawled out like a starfish, his chest rising softly with each breath.

The bed was huge. Alucard had given them two rooms, but they still slept in the same bed, tucked together like the kittens. She remembered a litter of kittens birthed by a tabby cat on the farm, how they had looked like one big pile of white and brown and black fur. She had spent hours watching them as a child, their eyes gradually opening to the world. That had been before Cho. Before their parents sold them like cattle.

There would be no more sleep tonight.

She threw on a soft robe over her white night shirt and padded into the hallway on bare feet.

**< \----------------------------------------->**

Alucard stalked the halls of the castle, his tread long and silent. Just this afternoon he had hunted in the form of the wolf and killed a white-tailed deer, drinking his fill, yet still he had not fully recovered his strength. His fangs felt like they were vibrating, like killing the doe had only heightened the sensation of what he was missing.

Teaching the siblings magic had been little more than an academic exercise. He was only able to cast one spell before the energy deserted him again. Strangely, the magic that was his birthright, his shapeshifting and his speed, seemed unaffected. Sumi was more patient than Taka, but he could sense their mounting frustration. It only served to heighten his own.

He knew he did not need human blood to survive, but he had never anticipated that animal blood would be such a poor substitute. His hunger did not feel out of control, but he felt weak for the first time in his living memory and it put him on edge. He had cut himself during sword play with Taka, and it had taken almost an hour to heal.

He glared down at the back of his hand, where a faint scar now lingered. It seemed to glow in the torchlight.

Alucard knew he could drink from his father’s stores, but he had never taken blood from an unwilling source. His mother had donated her own blood when his instincts first surfaced. As he aged, he found other willing partners. His mother had even had a small stock of donated blood that she used for her experiments and medical procedures. But those stocks were long depleted, and he could not leave the castle. He could not fathom drinking that rancid blood, blood from his father’s old enemies, drained out of them as they died full of horror and despair. The mere thought sickened him.

He turned down a familiar corridor, his eyes unseeing.

No, he would manage. He was no weakling, and he would compensate where necessary. There were some lines he could not cross, regardless of his desire to teach the Sumi and Taka magic. Perhaps if he practiced with them long enough, he would be able to conjure more efficiently despite his handicap.

He stopped. His eyes rose slowly from the carpet to the door before him. The study. The mirror.

He should not. He knew this. Yet he opened the door.

The hearth remained cold and dark. He preferred the darkness for this. Alucard stepped inside, his eyes scraping over the glass shards strewn in front of the chair and bookshelf. They shone like mercury in the moonlight from the single window.

He regarded the dolls still sitting on the bookshelf. He pictured Sypha and Trevor before him and breathed their names, but no one responded. No one called his name. He was alone.

Or perhaps not. A few corridors away, he heard the shuffle of bare feet. Sumi. He could tell by the cadence of her steady heartbeat. It made his teeth ache, but he ignored the sensation.

Though it felt like weakness, Alucard went to her, pulled forward by the beat of her life in his ears and the emptiness in his heart.

<\----------------------------------------->

The castle was silent and foreboding at night without Taka walking beside her and filling the air with his constant complaints. She made her way down the main passageway to the grand hall, one of the only paths that did not seem to change on a whim in this strange structure. She ran a hand along a ripped tapestry, fingering the burnt edge.

Rusty hinges squeaked, startling her. She turned and found a side passage where a door was now partially open. She glanced around, saw no one, and decided to continue her exploration.

She quickly realized that she had never been down this hallway before. The décor was older, all wrought iron and swirling tapestries. She recognized many of the items on display beneath the torches. There was a full suit of samurai armor, a rack of antique swords, and a pedestal featuring a ceramic tea plate. She stopped, turning to examine it more closely. She recognized the Seto pottery style from her homeland. It was an original Toshiro, likely 200 years old. She had never seen another piece outside Cho’s fortress.

“How in the world…” she trailed off, hesitating, and then reached out to touch the glazed surface, tracing the swooping curve of the crane’s wings painted in black ink. It was stunning.

“I see you’ve found my father’s collection from Nihon.”

Sumi twisted and sucked in a sharp breath. Alucard stood a few paces behind her, his eyes glowing softly in the dim corridor. Her heart rabbited in her throat.

“I have not heard the name of my homeland on another’s lips for a long time,” she replied, glancing at the suit of armor behind him, its red and black visage scowling at its ancient enemies.

Alucard walked towards her slowly, closing the distance between them.

Sumi barely stopped herself from retreating as he advanced. She felt exposed in this dim and isolated hallway, with no weapons and Taka far away in bed.

“Find anything interesting?” he queried.

“No,” she replied.

He quirked an eyebrow at her curt response.

“I could not sleep. That is why I am here,” she explained hastily. Cho had never permitted slaves to wander.

“You can go wherever you please, Sumi,” Alucard said softly, as if sensing the direction of her thoughts. “You are not slaves here.”

It was true. Alucard had given them an enormous amount of freedom. Part of her felt guilty for looking for hidden secrets and weapons, when they should be grateful for what he had already offered them.

The other part of her only cared about taking enough power to never feel powerless again, no matter the method or the cost.

“I know,” she said when the silence stretched too long. “We are grateful that you are helping us.”

Alucard stared at her for a long time, considering. Finally, he turned and beckoned her to follow him.

She fell into step a few paces behind his right shoulder.

“If we both can’t sleep, perhaps you can help me with a small research project,” Alucard said as they walked.

“Research?”

“Yes, it is when you have a question, and you seek to answer that question through a series of logical experiments.”

“E-su-pe-ru-ments?” Sumi stumbled over the foreign word, perplexed.

Instead of answering, Alucard laughed, throwing his head back, his golden mane catching the torchlight. For a moment, Sumi stood transfixed by the angle of his jaw, the glint of his fangs, the line of his eyes closed in mirth. He was beautiful, truly.

She shook herself, like a dog ridding itself of fleas.

All vampires were beautiful. The better to lure their prey. Alucard was half human and walked under the sun, but his other half was of the night. She would do well to remember that.

“To put it more plainly, I have a problem and I could use some help trying to fix it,” he clarified, amusement lacing his words.

Alcuard came to a closed door in another unfamiliar hallway. This wing looked like it had been the victim of an invading army. She stood with her mouth agape, staring at the huge hole at one end where the stone looked like it had been vaporized by a fire so hot that it must have come from hell itself.

“Ah, yes,” Alucard said, his tone subdued as he followed her gaze, “that was my father’s handiwork.”

Sumi looked back at him, suddenly reevaluating his strength. “Dracula? He did this and you survived his attack?”

“I would have been overwhelmed had it not been for their help,” he said softly, his eyes distant, seeing something she could not.

“Who were they?” Sumi asked. He had never discussed the two companions who had helped him slay the vampire king and his army.

Alucard met her gaze and his whole face transformed, his eyes soft and his lips upturned, “They were the fiercest of warriors, a hunter and a scholar.”

“Doesn’t scholar mean a… teacher?” she searched for an English word that made sense.

“Somewhat, but more importantly she was also a magician, a powerful one.” Alucard reached out and ran his long, pale fingers down a scorch mark in the hallway. “The most powerful human magic user I have ever encountered.”

“And a hunter?”

“Not just any hunter, a Belmont,” Alucard said quietly. He chuckled. “When we first met, he reeked of alcohol and shit, and he swore he didn’t care if the world and all its people burned to ash. But he cared, he cared more than he let on.”

“That does not sound like a great warrior,” Sumi murmured, almost to herself.

“He really wasn’t at first,” Alucard said absently. “I think returning to his family home and the Belmont trove helped him reclaim his legacy.” The dhampir stopped in front of a closed door before continuing. “Trevor is an unpredictable and capable fighter, almost inhuman in his skill, though his personality leaves much to be desired.”

His tone was mocking, but it could not hide his obvious affection and admiration. Sumi hesitated for a moment and then asked, “A trove? Of weapons? Will you teach us so we can be as strong as them one day?”

Alucard met her gaze levelly. “In the end, it was not our strength that subdued Dracula.”

Sumi waited.

“It was his grief.”

Before Sumi could ask him what he meant, Alucard turned and opened the door in front of them.

Inside, there was another library, albeit smaller than the ones she and Taka had found wandering the castle at night. This one had a small fireplace that sprang to life as they entered. Sumi did not even flinch. She had become accustomed to the castle’s strange fireplaces and torches that lit by magic alone.

On the floor, broken glass lay scattered, reflecting the dancing firelight. Alucard glowed where he stood in the center of the room, surrounded by a hundred mirrored flames, his hair orange and red at turns.

Sumi could not tear her eyes away from him.

“You wanted to learn about magic,” he intoned, gesturing to the glass pieces.

“I do not understand,” she replied, swallowing around her dry throat.

“This is a magic mirror. Well, it was,” he amended. “It is, at the moment, rather broken.”

“A magic mirror?” She looked at the ordinary looking glass. “How does it work?”

Alucard cast her a sly grin. “Well, I wouldn’t need help if I knew that, now would I?”

Sumi felt her cheeks heating at his teasing tone, and she glanced away.

That was when she noticed something strange on the bookshelf behind him. A pair of… dolls?

Alucard followed her gaze and all the good humor drained out of his face, replaced by something broken and fragile. He strode to the bookshelf, ripping the dolls from their perch and tossing them into a dark corner.

“Pay those no mind,” he said, his voice shaking slightly. “Just some old toys.”

Sumi nodded, afraid to ask further questions.

A disembodied voice spoke into the silence.

“Sypha, wake up.”

It was soft, a whisper, but the tone was urgent and hinted at imminent danger. Sumi took a step back and looked around. Her hand instinctually went to her waist to reach for her short sword, forgetting she was in little more than her nightclothes.

Alucard had frozen, his gaze fixed on the ground a few feet away.

Sumi looked as well and saw a single fragment of glass that was black as pitch. While all the other pieces reflected the light of the fire, this one was like a hole full of darkness.

“Is it working?” she asked quietly.

Alucard did not answer right away. Instead, he took an unsteady step forward and sunk to his knees, his hand reaching out to trace the edge of the glass. “Why can I only see you in pieces?” he growled, his frustration evident.

Sumi stepped closer and knelt at his side, trying to get a better look. She gasped. There was a moving picture inside the shard. She could see dark woods and a small clearing, the trees and bushes illuminated by pale moonlight. A man in a dark cloak with a scar over one eye crouched above a figure in a bedroll, his hand grasping a shoulder to wake his companion. The person stirred and sat up, revealing blue robes. Sumi could see the person’s face was covered in crusted bandages.

The woman moaned in pain.

Sumi realized these were real people in another place far from the castle. She marveled at the image. This was magic! Beyond anything she had ever witnessed. She grinned with delight, but when she looked up at Alcuard she was surprised to see his face filled with a stark and painful longing.

“We have to go,” the man inside the glass said, his tone apologetic yet urgent. “She is coming.”

Something about the man was bothering Sumi. His face…

Her eyes widened and she glanced to the dark corner where Alucard had thrown the dolls, one in a blue robe, the other with a scar over its button eye. She knew who these people were.

“The hunter and the scholar,” she said with awe. The warriors who had obliterated Dracula’s night court.

“Yes,” Alucard responded after a moment, distracted. “Sypha has been injured. Badly, from the looks of it.”

The man, Alucard had called him Belmont, helped the woman to her feet. The two figures moved away together and soon they were no longer visible.

A few minutes later, another figure appeared in the clearing. Her silk robe trailed behind her and a dark hood was pulled over her face. Moonlight flashed on her crescent blade.

Sumi’s blood ran cold.

“Shit,” Alucard swore. “They’re being followed.”

“ _Kuchisake-onna_ ,” she breathed.

Alucard whipped his head around to look at her, his hair flying out like a golden fan. “What? You know who that is?”

Sumi shook her head. “Not who, that is not a person,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “That is an _onryō_. Most think she is legend, but those familiar with the night world know that she is real.”

Alucard narrowed his eyes. “Tell me about this creature.”

Sumi sat back and considered where to begin. “She is a woman who lived many years ago in Kamakura. Some say she was tortured and murdered by her lover for being unfaithful. Others say a jealous sister cut her mouth.”

“Cut her mouth?”

“ _Kuchisake-onna_ means…” she searched for the right words. “Woman with a cut mouth. We call her this because she has a smile from here,” she gestured to her right ear and drew her finger across her cheek to her mouth, then to her other ear, “to here.”

Alucard frowned and glanced at the empty mirror fragment with growing concern.

“She became an _onryō_ , returned from death. She inflicts her suffering on other innocents because her pain is too great to bear alone.” Sumi held up another piece of glass and gestured at her own face. “She cuts them, as she was cut, from ear to ear. If they are lucky. Others, she kills with her blade.”

“Oh no, Sypha,” he whispered, his voice hollow. “She…the bandages…”

Sumi shook her head. “If Kuchisake-onna is still following them then she has not completed her work, and they have not escaped her vengeance.”

“So, she will keep hunting them until…”

“Until she slices your friend’s face open or maybe kills her, or until they perform the ritual to banish her back to sleep,” Sumi concluded.

Alucard slammed a fist on the floor next to the glass shard, now only displaying an empty forest clearing. “They are in danger and I cannot fix this infernal mirror!”

Sumi turned the piece of glass over in her hands. “How is it supposed to work?”

Alucard growled, tearing at his hair in frustration.

Sumi noticed with trepidation that his nails were lengthening, and his eyes were bleeding to red.

“It is a transmission mirror,” he said, taking several deep breaths. “The pieces assemble together, allowing its master to communicate with people far away or travel across vast distances.”

“Travel? Through a mirror? That is possible?” Sumi said breathlessly, overcome by the possibilities. If Taka and her could possess a mirror such as this…

“Maybe it was only possible for my father,” Alucard said, his voice full of bitterness, interrupting her thoughts.

“You are half your father, are you not?” Sumi prodded.

“Yes, but the mirrors in the castle will not respond to me since I awoke. The entire castle seems to resist my command,” Alcuard muttered. “I don’t understand. I could use the mirrors before my father…before…”

Alucard’s eyes widened.

“Yes?”

"Could it be that simple?" he spoke in a hushed voice, as if she wasn't even there. 

"Alucard?"

He stood suddenly. “I must procure something from the kitchen,” he said, then turned and strode to the door.

She rose as if to follow him, but he waved her down.

“No, stay here. Watch the mirror. Tell me if you see anything more. I will return shortly.”

Sumi was left holding a broken piece of glass to a magic mirror in only her nightclothes.

She wished she had woken Taka. He wasn’t going to believe this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love that I get to draw from Japanese lore about demons and ghosts and that it actually WORKS with the story because of Sumi and Taka. Too fun. 
> 
> Also, I think I fixed the chapter count. I anticipate about ten chapters after sketching out the plot, but not completely sure.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!


	5. Reunions and Resolve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio is reunited. Sort of. Sumi is conflicted. Taka is a creeper.

Alucard sped through the castle’s dim halls, arriving at the kitchen in record time. He stood once again in his father’s storeroom, the frosted metal cannisters gleaming under the light.

He grabbed one at random, trying not to think too hard on what he was doing. He took the cannister to the kitchen table and twisted off the cap, then poured the viscous fluid into a wine glass. Then he thought better of it and transferred the liquid to an earthen mug, so he would not have to see the stuff as he drank.

His father had probably savored this blood like a particularly rich vintage, sipping it and fondly recalling his triumph over his enemies. Adrian could not reconcile the man who had loved his mother and doted on him as a child with the monster who had done these things and collected all this blood. He had read the diaries. He had seen the evidence of Dracula’s brutality, and even wore the reminder on his own chest, but these two halves of his father would never be the same person in his mind.

Alucard took a deep breath and then tilted the cup back and drained the blood in several long gulps, feeling simultaneously revolted by the taste and elated by the sensation of strength and vigor that flooded his limbs. He gasped and slammed the mug down onto the counter, cracking the handle. He panted heavily for several long moments, still tasting the bitter aftertaste of fear in the back of his throat.

He wondered if it was an acquired taste and then cringed at the thought.

“Are you going to tell me that is animal blood?”

Alucard slid his eyes to the doorway, where Taka stood with a mocking smirk on his lips.

Shit.

“Taka, you’re up,” Alucard said, wanting to smack himself at how ridiculous he sounded. 

Taka just raised one eyebrow. His nightshirt hung off one shoulder, partially exposing a lean, muscled chest. He wore soft pants that stopped just below his knees. His ankles were crossed, his posture indolent and relaxed against the doorframe.

“I won’t lie. This is human blood, some of my father’s old stores.”

“I thought you drank animal blood.”

“Something came up.” He gestured to the empty mug and the open cannister on the table. “This has, unfortunately, become a necessity.” 

“For your magic?” Taka asked.

“The blood will likely help with that, but I have a more urgent need.”

“Well, you did drink that rather fast.”

Alucard groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “I am sorry you had to see that. I would rather not drink human blood, especially this blood, but the situation is rather complicated.”

“It is not complicated,” Taka said with a casual shrug. He straightened from his post at the doorway and entered the room. “You are a vampire, or half of you is, and you need blood. It is not mine, so I do not care.”

Alucard was taken aback but recovered quickly. “I appreciate your understanding.”

Taka nodded but did not seem overly concerned. He cocked his hip against the counter several paces away, letting his fingers trace idle patterns on the tile.

Alucard was becoming increasingly uneasy about Taka’s demeanor. He seemed wholly different without Sumi around, less carefree and fun. His facial expressions were flat, his ebony eyes cold.

“So,” Taka began nonchalantly, “when will you share the castle’s secrets with us?”

“Secrets?”

“Yes, like the engine that moves the castle. You say it is broken, but can it be fixed?” he asked lightly, without looking up.

“Perhaps with time and significant effort, but I have no intention of doing so,” Alucard replied, not liking where this was going. 

“Well, where are the magic weapons? Will you teach us to use them?” Taka continued unperturbed.

“My father did not keep many magical weapons, though the Belmont Hold is another matter.”

“When are you planning on showing us the Hold then?” Taka pressed, then he paused. “Or are you just keeping us as pets?” He said the last jokingly, but there was something hard in his tone that put Alucard on edge.

Instead of answering, Alucard followed a hunch and asked, “Where is Sumi?”

Taka’s fingers stilled on the tiles for only a moment, the hesitation so brief that only a vampire would have noticed. “She is still sleeping,” he responded, and then laughed lightly. “And she calls me lazy!”

Alucard let the silence hang for several seconds. “Is she now?” he asked softly, his voice icy.

Taka jerked his eyes up to him briefly, before shrugging and looking away. “Sure, how would I know? I left our room a while ago.”

Alucard could hear the young man’s heartbeat accelerate ever so slightly. Taka was lying. He knew Sumi was not in bed and he did not want Alucard to know. Perhaps it was simply that Taka did not trust him, but Alucard sensed it was something else, something he was hiding.

“Do not worry,” Alucard said finally. “Sumi was with me a short time ago. I will lead you to her.”

If Taka was surprised by this revelation, he did not show it. He simply nodded and said no more. 

Alucard set a fast pace back to the study with Taka trailing behind. The entire way, he felt tense and ready to spring.

Alucard realized with a deep unease that he no longer trusted Taka at his back.

<\---------------------------------------->

At first, they tried to camp near the road.

Trevor collected wood for a small fire and then left Sypha briefly to raid their dwindling food supply. All that remained was dried meat and hard tack, neither of which Sypha would be able to chew. Maybe he could boil them in water and soften them up so she could swallow small bites.

That was when Trevor saw the creature again.

She did not approach him. She just stood beneath the eaves of the forest mere paces away. The moonlight glinted off her horrible teeth split open in an enormous smile.

“Smile while you can, you fucking cunt,” he growled. “You touch Sypha again and I’ll banish you to the seventh circle of hell with all the other ugly pissflaps.”

She grinned even wider, if that was possible. “Are you not tired, hunter?”

Trevor gripped the wagon bench hard enough to give himself splinters.

“My art will not be denied forever. For I am tireless, and you are mortal. Soon, I will have what is mine.”

She disappeared as she always did in shadow and fog.

Trevor was left pulsing hot and shaking with unspent adrenalin.

He darted back to the campsite, only to find that Sypha had drifted off near the fire pit. She moaned and turned bleary eyes on him when he shook her awake. He helped her back onto the wagon and they set off again, her head lolling against his shoulder as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

Trevor clenched his teeth and fought down the insidious fear and self-loathing clawing at his insides. Sypha was exhausted and sick somehow from the wounds. He had left her thinking she could still defend herself, but she had been completely oblivious. That ghost could have been on her in seconds and he had left her there. Alone. 

He spent over an hour looking for a better place to camp. Every so often, high-pitched, feminine laughter floated out of the darkness, but he did not see the spirit again.

He found a cave, farther from the road than he would normally have camped, but it would do. Most spirits could not materialize a corporeal form. The ones that could manifest a body were powerful, like their pursuer, but they could not move as easily through stone and earthen structures. Hopefully, it would provide a barrier.

Trevor insisted Sypha rest. She woke briefly and mustered up enough energy to create a ward around the cave opening, and then collapsed into the bedding he had spread out for her. She was dead to the world within seconds.

Trevor stood at the mouth of the cave. With Sypha’s soft breathing behind him, he could feel his eyes drifting shut every few minutes, but he could not risk sleep. Though Sypha was a talented magician, they had no idea if the stone cave and her ward were enough to keep the creature out. For all he knew, that thing was out there waiting for him to rest so it could finish what it had started.

The night was so dark under the trees that Trevor could hardly see two feet in front of his face. Nearby, an owl cooed and something small rustled through the leaves of the forest floor. 

Trevor blinked rapidly several times and then pinched his forearm. 

Fuck, but it was going to be a long night. 

<\---------------------------------------->

The piece of glass no longer flickered with pictures, so Sumi scooped it up to inspect it. It was about the size of a tea plate and shaped like a jagged teardrop. As she turned it over in her hands, she accidentally sliced the meat of her palm and hissed in pain. She placed the shard on the ground and brought her hand up to her mouth, sucking at the welling drops of blood.

It was in that moment that Alucard returned.

The first thing Sumi noticed was how tall he seemed. Before, Alucard had stood with a slight rounding to his shoulders, but now his spine was made of steel. His hair was luminescent and shone like spun copper, and it seemed to float about him as he moved. His eyes were like gilded brass, somehow both darker and brighter than before, the colors shifting with the firelight.

She was so transfixed that she forgot her hand was in her mouth. She pulled her flesh away from her lips and watched with fascination as that golden, inhumane gaze followed her bleeding hand with unnerving concentration. Alucard’s lips parted slightly, and she could see the gleam of his pointed fangs. She went completely still, like a rabbit when the fox first comes into view. Yet she felt no fear, only a heady anticipation.

She did not even realize Taka was there until he cleared his throat.

Sumi wrenched her eyes to meet Taka’s hawkish gaze. Whatever hold Alucard had over her vanished, replaced with a feeling of unease and shame that her brother had witnessed what had transpired between them.

She was not even sure she understood what had transpired.

“Taka,” Sumi said, rising from the floor, “you are up.”

Taka glanced at Alucard with a slight grin, though it seemed forced. “So I hear.”

Alucard did not grin back. He ducked his head in her direction and said, “Did you see anything else?”

Sumi shook her head. “The mirror stopped working as soon as you left the room.”

“As I suspected,” Alucard responded. He stalked towards her with leonine grace and gestured for her to move aside.

Sumi inched closer to Taka. Her brother was watching the dhampir with alarming intensity. She reached out a hand to brush his sleeve and he jerked at her touch. He cast her a particularly annoyed glare, which she ignored.

“This is a magic mirror,” she whispered with delight, watching his face transform from irritation to fascination. “Alucard asked me to help him fix it.”

“It’s broken?”

“Not broken, just not working,” Alucard interrupted. “I could not command it before, but I hope I might be more successful this time.”

“What does it do?” Taka asked.

“Observe.”

Alucard held up his right hand and there was a surge of pressure against her ears. The dhampir’s nails lengthened to sharp blades and all the gold drained from his eyes, to be replaced by a lurid red. His facial features seemed to sharpen, and his hair lifted in a phantom breeze.

Sumi felt a shiver walk up her spine as she witnessed his transformation. In that moment, he seemed far more vampire than man. 

With a single finger, Alucard sketched a pattern in the air. A faint glittering symbol appeared like a ghostly echo.

“Show me Trevor Belmont,” he intoned.

This time, the mirror pieces instantly responded, jumping from the ground and flying through the room in a twisting maelstrom. Taka jerked his hands up instinctually as razor sharp glass flew within inches of his face. Sumi held her breath as each piece found its place and gradually assembled into a large, oval mirror floating suspended before them.

For a moment, Alucard’s reflection stared back, like any other mirror. Then it gradually faded, replaced by a scene of a forest in the deep of night. Moonlight was shining down through a gap in the trees not far away, illuminating a figure cloaked in black and red and gold. The man stood sentry before the dark mouth of a cave, his arms crossed and his face set with concentration.

So this was Trevor Belmont. He looked every bit the warrior that Alucard had described, his build heavy and muscled. A long chain whip gleamed at his belt and his eyes were hard and focused.

Taka was transfixed by the mirror and its incredible image, but Sumi studied Alucard instead. The cool and composed mask he often wore had crumbled, and in its place was an expression of naked hunger and longing. 

“Trevor,” Alucard breathed.

The hunter jerked at the sound and slid into a fighting stance, so quickly that Sumi stepped back on instinct to defend herself. His eyes scanned back and forth, but he did not appear to see them.

“Where the hell are you, you toothy bitch,” Belmont growled, his blue gaze focused to the right of where she stood.

“Why can he not see us?” Sumi asked quietly.

The hunter tilted his head, as if he heard her. He unspooled the long chain whip from his belt, his eyes narrowed to slits.

“Show yourself,” Belmont hissed.

None of them spoke, transfixed by the image of the hunter moving toward them.

“I can’t wait to cut your head off again, so I don’t have to look at your ugly face,” Belmont continued, slowly stalking forward.

His gait reminded Sumi of an _iriomote_ cat, liquid and balanced and silent. As he neared them, she could make out the jagged scar over his eye, an eye as blue as the ocean. His features were handsome, but they had been roughened by hardship and violence.

Alucard did not speak. Instead, he raised his hand again and drew another symbol in the air. It gleamed for a moment and then dissolved.

Sumi was about to ask what he had done, but then Alucard stepped through the mirror and was gone.

<\---------------------------------------->

Trevor peered intently into the inky blackness beneath the trees, where the silhouette of every shrub looked like a creeping monster. He gripped the Morning Star and stole forward a few more paces, but he heard no more voices. The forest was silent save for the chitter of insects. He hesitated to go any further, not wanting to leave the cave unguarded.

He had heard two voices, one male and one female. Neither had sounded at all like the ghost, though the female voice had a similar accent. He could have sworn the first voice said his name and it had almost sounded familiar. But that did not make one damn bit of sense.

Trevor decided he should wake Sypha. He knew she needed rest, but weird shit meant it probably involved magic, and she was much better equipped to deal with that nonsense than he was.

He turned and took several strides back toward the cave. Firelight abruptly illuminated the forest around him, making the shadows jump and shift. Trevor spun around and was shocked to discover what could only be described as a window hanging suspended in midair.

A window into a familiar study with a roaring fireplace.

Before he could truly make sense of what he was seeing, a dark figure stepped out of thin air and materialized before him. He snapped the whip forward on instinct, envisioning Dracula returned from the dead, but then jerked it back just in time as he recognized Alucard and his ridiculous hair.

Trevor stared for a moment in stunned surprise, but he recovered quickly. “I see you still like to make an entrance,” he quipped.

“Floating Vampire Jesus is a rather illustrious title to live up to,” Alucard responded easily, quirking his mouth in a sly smile.

Trevor barked out a laugh and shook his head, feeling a profound sense of relief steal through his tired, cold body. All the adrenalin and strength seemed to leave him at once, and he sagged where he stood. With Alucard here, they might actually make it out of this mess alive.

Trevor almost wanted to hug the bastard. Almost.

Instead, he pointed at the floating image of the castle study. “Who are they?”

Alucard turned back to where two figures with dark hair and olive skin were now visible as they peered through the mirror on the other side.

“Those are my, well, students, I suppose.”

“Students? What the hell are you teaching them? Brooding techniques?”

Alucard did not look amused.

“Wait, I’ve got it,” Trevor held up a finger and paused, as if struck by inspiration. “Hair styling solutions for the end of the world.”

Alucard cast his eyes to the sky and sighed deeply.

“How to glare in seven languages and two dialects, a primer.”

Alucard just proved him right by glaring for all he was worth.

Trevor exploded with laughter, hunching over with his hands on his knees. Every time he thought he had recovered, an image assaulted him of those two kids trying to copy every haughty, ridiculous glare that Alucard could dish out and he would collapse again into helpless mirth.

“Are you quite finished?” Alucard snapped.

“Okay, okay, sure, don’t be so moody,” Trevor placated, holding up his hands and taking several steading breaths. “Why don’t you tell me what the hell that floating window thing is?”

“That is a portal,” Alucard answered, obviously glad for the change of subject. “It was created by a transmission mirror, part of my father’s collection of ancient artifacts.”

“I can’t believe I am saying this, but thank fucking Christ for Dracula.”

“You still have a way with words, I see.”

Trevor dropped all pretense of joking and thumbed towards the cave opening. “Look, I need you to take Sypha back with you. We’re being hunted, or she is, by a particularly nasty ghost. She was injured.”

“I know.”

“Yeah, so you see…wait, what?” Trevor stopped, blinking owlishly. “You know what?”

“That you are being hunted. That Sypha was injured. I even know the name of your troublesome spirit. Her name is _Kuchisake-onna_.”

“Gods, I hate magic sometimes,” Trevor groaned.

“Really, I don’t know why. It’s part of your family legacy, if you recall.”

Trevor held up his hands as if to ward off the offensive remark. “Nope, not having this conversation right now.”

“As you wish.”

Alucard looked smug as shit. Trevor wanted to punch him in the face. “Look, just take Sypha with you,” he said instead. “Now. She needs medical treatment. I know your mother was a doctor. You can help.”

“Of course, I had intended to take her back with me, but I also—”

“Good, because I’m useless at taking care of people,” Trevor muttered, then sighed and started back toward the cave. “I’ll go wake her.”

“Belmont, wait.”

Trevor stopped, turning back with one brow lifted in question.

But Alucard said nothing. He stood with his lips parted and one hand lifted away from his side, as if he had been reaching for something.

“Yeah?”

The dhampir shook his head slightly and dropped his hand. He looked away and said quietly, “Do hurry. I am not sure how long the portal lasts, and I have never taken another person through the mirror.”

Trevor nodded and quickly made his way back to the cave. When he ducked inside the entrance, he immediately noticed Sypha’s labored breathing. He scuttled over to her prone form and gripped her shoulder, shaking her roughly.

“Sypha?”

She did not respond.

He felt around in the semi-dark, placing his hand on her forehead. It was damp with sweat and hot to the touch. Trevor swore under his breath.

Trevor got both arms underneath her and tried to lift her out of the cave, simultaneously crouching to avoid knocking his head on the low ceiling. He still managed to bump his forehead against a rock as he was turning, and he cursed at the sharp pain.

“You know, we could have been sleeping in an inn, or a stable, whatever, but noooooo we had to go be martyrs and sleep in the fucking woods in a fucking cave,” he complained as he crab walked awkwardly outside, straightening as he reached the entrance. “For god’s sake, how are you so heavy? You’re the size of a child.”

“Did you just call me fat?”

Trevor looked down at Sypha. Her face was pressed against his chest, one eye cracked and gleaming up at him. Her forehead was creased in pain and it was hard to understand her, but at least she was conscious and trying to speak. “Yeah, you’re huge,” he said with a grin. “A real pig.”

“Can still set you on fire,” she mumbled, but the threat was dampened by the way her hands clutched at his tunic and she burrowed deeper into his chest.

“I’ll take my chances.”

Alucard was still waiting in front of the portal, looking otherworldly with his hair gleaming in the rippling firelight, his eyes like twin lanterns in the dark.

“Alucard,” Sypha breathed, and Trevor could feel the tension leave her body, how she suddenly felt boneless.

“Here,” Trevor said, passing Sypha to Alucard, who held her against him like she was made of glass.

Sypha protested weakly at being carried, but Alucard grasped her hand in his own and she stilled. “It might be best for you to stay close when we travel through the portal.”

Sypha nodded and relaxed against him.

Alucard looked down at her and smiled with a tenderness that transformed his whole face.

Trevor was unprepared for the stab of jealousy that flared through him, followed quickly by a yearning that he could not name. Seeing them together knocked the breath out of him. They were like sunlight and fire in the midst of the dark woods, a beacon in the night. His mouth went dry and he swallowed around a sudden tightness in his throat. It sounded too loud to his own ears.

Alucard met his gaze and Trevor felt exposed, like his confused and muddled thoughts must be written plain on his face.

“I will come back for you.”

Trevor snorted. “You are not carrying me bridal style through a magic portal, so don’t get any ideas.”

Alucard rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, though, I’m not going through that thing.”

Alucard paused mid-step. "You are not coming with us?”

“No, I’m not.”

Alucard looked particularly funny when he was confused or irritated, and Trevor felt a certain satisfaction that he could evoke both so easily.

“I do not understand.”

Trevor gestured to the west. “We’ve two good horses and a wagon with supplies hitched behind that rise. I’m sure you sensed them.”

Alucard nodded.

“Sypha is rather attached to those horses, and they won’t last out here without someone to keep roaming night creatures at bay.”

“You are going to stay here by yourself with a murderous ghost because Sypha likes the horses?” Alucard deadpanned, but his voice was tight with anger. 

“Well, okay,” Trevor amended. “I sorta like the old mare too.”

Alucard look extremely frustrated, but he glanced back to the portal where one of his companions was still visible. The other had disappeared. “I must leave now. I am unsure how much time I have left. You are certain you will not come?”

Trevor shrugged. “I’ll be at the castle in about 10 days, give or take. I can bring the wagon and the horses back with me. Besides, I don’t think the ghost is interested in me. It wanted Sypha. I’ll be fine.”

“You say that now, but Sypha will murder me if you get hurt and I didn’t bring you back.”

Trevor glanced down to see that Sypha had slipped into unconsciousness again. "You can use that mirror whenever you want, right?"

"Theoretically."

"Well, just come back in a few days if you're that worried. I'll probably be passed out drunk in a stable somewhere, but your concern is touching."

Alucard sighed. "Very well."

“Take care of her,” Trevor murmured, all teasing gone. “I think the wound has gone foul.”

“I have adequate supplies to deal with infection. I assure you she will be well cared for.”

They stood for another long moment.

Alucard looked again at the portal, consternation written plain on his face. “I must go.”

“Yeah, get out of here before you end up stranded in this shithole with a lucky drunk and two horses for company.”

Alucard smiled faintly and turned away, Sypha cradled in his arms. Together, they stepped through the portal. For a moment they appeared suspended on the other side, as if trapped in a painting, then the image faded and shrunk until nothing remained but cold and darkness.

“Thank you, friend.” Trevor whispered into the empty woods.

For a moment, the silence felt crushing and oppressive. A thread of fear shivered up his spine, a small voice whispering that he had made a mistake, that he should have gone with them.

He shook the feeling away and then he marched back to the cave, fully intent on repacking the wagon and traveling, all through the night if necessary, to find a better place to sleep.

One with more ale, preferably.

<\---------------------------------------->

Sumi continued to watch through the mirror as Alucard spoke with the hunter. She could hear their conversation, though it sounded faint and garbled.

Taka was examining the bookshelves nearby, occasionally glancing towards the magic mirror, his eyes gleaming with a barely concealed avarice. She knew what he was thinking. With the mirror, they could travel anywhere in the world. Spy on their enemies. Rescue their people from the clutches of those who would enslave them.

It was power like nothing they had ever seen.

The only problem was that it responded only to Alucard and only to his vampiric side. It was probably useless to them.

Finally, Alucard turned back toward the mirror with the speaker magician bundled in his arms. Sumi narrowed her eyes at the sight, but then moved aside as the two stepped through the portal and back into the warm study. The portal slowly dissolved into nothing and soon all that could be heard was the soft crackle of the fire burning away in the hearth.

Sumi got her first look at the woman who had helped defeat Dracula and felt profound disappointment. She seemed nothing more than an injured girl, small and weak.

“This is her?” Sumi asked, barely keeping the disdain from her voice.

Alucard looked up as if startled to find her there, and then jerked his head in acknowledgement. “I must tend to her wounds. Please excuse me.”

Taka came up behind her as the dhampir retreated from the study with the strange woman, leaving them to their own devices. 

Sumi felt unexpectedly stung by the quick dismissal. Had she not helped him solve the riddle of the mirror? Was she no longer useful?

“We should not have waited,” Taka said into the silence. “Now, there is another person here. It complicates things.”

Sumi shook her head. “What would we have done? We do not know enough yet about the castle, or about Alucard.”

“He likes you.”

“You mistake loneliness for affection,” Sumi responded quickly, and she knew as she said the words that they were true. Alucard was so desperate to please, his eagerness to teach them driven by a pit of loneliness and despair that Sumi only recognized because it was intimately familiar. Now, with his scholar returned, she did not know what the future held for them here.

“Maybe we can use that. He might reveal the secrets of the castle to you,” Taka said softly, stepping closer to her and setting his hand on her shoulder.

Sumi shifted uncomfortably, but then she remembered the _onry_ _ō_. She turned to face Taka with a grin. “Do not worry. He still needs our help.”

“With what?”

“ _Kuchisaki-onna_ ,” Sumi said.

Taka shivered at the name.

“We will help him banish her. Surely then, he will trust us enough to teach us more.”

“If you say so,” Taka said, sounding doubtful. Then he leaned down and plucked a fragment of the mirror off the floor. He wrapped it carefully in the hem of his nightshirt.

“What exactly do you plan to do with that?” Sumi asked skeptically.

Taka shrugged. “Who knows?”

Sumi rolled her eyes and lead the way from the study, yawning deeply. It had been a long night and sleep sounded welcome once more.

Taka’s eyes flashed a brilliant red in the fading firelight.

Sumi was too tired to notice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hard to finish because it's laying the ground work for so much of the plot moving forward. I hope you all still enjoyed it.


End file.
